There's a Measles Outbreak in Europe

The World Health Organization reports a resurgence of the seemingly long-gone disease.

Europe-bound travelers, triple check your vaccinations. According to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO), there’s a measles outbreak in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, and the Ukraine. More than 500 cases of the disease were reported in those countries in January 2017 alone. “With steady progress toward elimination over the past two years, it is of particular concern that measles cases are climbing in Europe,” Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO’s regional director for Europe said in a press release.

After all, measles—a super contagious (sometimes deadly) disease—was a much bigger health threat in the past. Before a vaccine was widely available, the WHO estimates about 2.6 million people died from the disease every year.

Today? Two doses of the MMR vaccine (which prevents against measles, mumps, and rubella) are 97 percent effective at prevention; one dose is about 93 percent effective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates.

That’s, in part, why this outbreak, which currently is worst in Romania and Italy (including areas like Turin, Rome, Florence, and Milan), is so worrisome: It can be traced to a lack of immunizations. In order to effectively shield a community from a disease, 95 percent of the population should be vaccinated. But the WHO says that in the affected countries, immunization rates have dropped below that threshold.

Dr. Mary Ramsay, head of immunization at Public Health England, told the BBC that "in the last year, the measles cases confirmed in England have mainly been in older adolescents and young adults with many linked to music festivals and other large public events."

While this outbreak is in Europe, Dr. Jakab warns that it’s something that we all, as travelers, need to pay attention to. In that same release, she said: “Today’s travel patterns put no person or country beyond the reach of the measles virus. Outbreaks will continue in Europe, as elsewhere, until every country reaches the level of immunization needed to fully protect their populations.”